Six Lynn students honored by Superintendent

LYNN – Superintendent Nicholas Kostan presented six high school seniors with academic excellence awards at Thursday night’s School Committee meeting, honoring the group for obtaining the highest cumulative grade point averages in their class.The awards are presented each year by the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to honor the students for four years of hard work and strong academic showing.From Classical High School, senior Kelsey Cowdell produced the highest GPA of any student in Lynn Public Schools over the last four years, finishing her senior year with a 4.150 average.A member of Mock Trial, College Bowl, Key Club, Spanish Club and varsity swim team, Cowdell has received awards from the National Honors Society, Rotary Youth Leadership Institute, AP Scholar Institute and the National Merit Scholarship.Finishing just behind Cowdell in the Classical senior class of 362 is Evan D’Avolio, who earned a GPA of 4.509. He is the president of the National Honor Society, captain of the varsity tennis team, captain of the varsity bowl team and plays violin for the Lynn City Orchestra.D’Avolino also volunteers at Union Hospital and plans to attend medical school after graduation.From English High School, Kostan honored Hunter Richard, who was first of 328 graduating students with a GPA of 4.46. Richards has won the Outstanding Music Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators and finished Summa Cum Laude on the National Latin Exam.Along with serving as president of the Lynn Public Schools Band, Richard is a representative on the State Student Advisory Council to the Board of Education, a regional and state delegate for Lynn and the anchor of the LEHS morning news.Second in the English graduating class is Alexandra Pascu. Since immigrating from Romania in 2004, Pascu has accumulated a 3.95 GPA and won multiple awards, including Mathematics Student of the Quarter, Certificate of Membership to the National Honors Society, Certificate of Merit from the High Honor Society of Women Engineers, Le Grand Concours bronze medal and the Wellesley College Book Award.From Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute, Kostan honored Cynthia Pinto, who ranks first in her class with a GPA of 3.91.Pinto is a member of the National Honor Society, and belongs to the Gay-Straight Alliance, Robotics Club and Skills USA and is the Webmaster for the LVTI robotics homepage.Second in the LVTI class is Paloma Monte de Oca, who finished with an identical GPA as Pinto.Monte de Oca has won the Rotary Club Leadership Award and the Upward Bound award for excellence. She also belongs to the Robotics Club, Skills USA, Science Club and the Chandra Astrophysics program at MIT.”These students are a true credit to the Lynn Public Schools,” Kostan said. “We are very proud of all of them and lucky to have them representing Lynn as they head off to college.”